Constitutional Amendments of India

Constitutional Amendments of India

Constitution (1st Amendment) Act, 1951: This amendment provided for several new grounds of restrictions to the right to freedom of speech and expression and the right to practice any profession or to carry on any trade or business as contained in Article 19 of the Constitution. These restrictions related to public order, friendly relations with foreign states or incitement to an offence in relation to the right to freedom of speech, and to the prescribing of professional or technical qualifications or the carrying on by the State, etc., of any trade, business, industry or service in relation to the right to carry on any trade or business. The amendment also inserted two new Articles, 31 A and 31 B and the Ninth Schedule to give protection from challenge to land reform laws.

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Constitution (2nd Amendment) Act,1952: Amended Article 81 with a view to readjusting the scale of representation in the House of the People, necessitated by the completion of the 1951 census.

Constitution (3rd Amendment) Act, 1953: Substituted entry 33 of the Concurrent List in the 7th Schedule by a new one including foodstuffs, cattle fodder, raw cotton and jute as additional items whose production and supply can be controlled by the government, if found expedient in the public interest.

Constitution (4th Amendment) Act, 1954: The Amendment provides that when the State compulsorily acquires private property for a public purpose, the scale of compensation prescribed by the authorizing legislation could not be called in to question in a court. Another clause excludes the temporary taking over of a property by the State, either in public interest or to secure its better management, from the compensation clause. The amendment also operates as a saving clause for state monopolies. Seven new entries were also added to the 9th Schedule.

Constitution (5th Amendment) Act, 1955: Empowers the Presidents to fix a time limit for state legislatures to express their views on proposed Central laws affecting the area and boundaries, etc. of their respective states.

Constitution (6th Amendment) Act, 1956: Adds a new entry to the Union List in the Seventh Schedule relating to taxes on the sale and purchase of goods in the course of Inter State Transactions.

Constitution (7th Amendment) Act, 1956: It was enacted by the Parliament in the Seventh year of the Republic. The amendment was necessitated by reorganization of state. Part A, B, and C states were abolished. The maximum strength of Lok Sabha was fixed at 525.

Constitution (8th Amendment) Act, 1960: Article 334 was amended with a view to extending the  period of reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and to the Anglo-Indian community by nomination in Parliament and in the State legislatures for a further period of ten years.

Constitution (9th Amendment) Act, 1960: This amended the first Schedule of the Constitution in order to give effect to the transfer of certain territories of Pakistan in pursuance of the agreements entered into between the Governments of India and Pakistan in Sept. 1958. This amendment was necessitated in view of the Judgment of Supreme court in “In Re Berubari Union” by which it was held that any agreement to cede a territory to another country could not be implemented by a law made under Article 3 but would only be implemented by an amendment of the Constitution.

Constitution (10th Amendment) Act,1961: Incorporated former Portuguese enclaves of Dadra and Nagar Haveli within India and provided for their administration by the President.

Constitution (11th Amendment) Act, 1961: Obviated the necessity of a joint meeting of the two Houses of Parliament by forming them into an electoral college for the election of Vice-President. It also amended Article 66 and 71 so as to make it clear that the election of the President or the Vice President shall not be challenged on the ground of any vacancy, for whatever reason, in the appropriate electoral college.

Constitution (12th Amendment) Act, 1962: The Twelfth Amendment was passed to include the territories of Goa, Daman and diu as a Union Territory in the first Schedule to the constitution and to empower the President to make, regulations for the peace, progress and good government of the areas.

Constitution (13th Amendment) Act, 1962: Created Nagaland as the sixteenth State in the Indian Union. By this amendment, a new Article 371A was added to make special provisions with respect to state of Nagaland in pursuance of an agreement between Government of India and Naga People’s Convention.

Constitution (14th Amendment) Act, 1962: Conferred necessary legislative powers on Parliament to enact laws for the creation of Legislature and Council of Ministers in Union Territories. Former French establishments of Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam were specified in the Constitution as the Union Territory of Pondicherry.

Constitution (15th Amendment) Act, 1963: It was a minor amendment empowering the President of India, in consultation with the Chief Justice of India to make final decisions on dispute about a High Court Judge’s age. It also shortened the procedure for disciplinary action against State employees.

Constitution (16th Amendment) Act, 1963: It sought to impose reasonable restrictions on the fundamental rights “in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India”.

Constitution (17th Amendment) Act, 1964: It protected many land reform Acts passed by many State Governments. It enlarged the definition of the term ‘estate’ to include Ryotwari lands. The enforcement of certain Directive Principles of State Policy was ensured.

Constitution (18th Amendment) Act,1966: Provided for the linguistic reorganization of the Punjab into a Punjabi speaking State called Punjab and a Hindi-speaking State called Haryana.

Constitution (19th Amendment) Act, 1966: Is a minor amendment clarifying the duties of the Election Commission. Article 324 was amended to effect a consequential change as a result of the decision to abolish Election Tribunals and to hear election petitions by High Courts.

Constitution (20th Amendment) Act, 1966: Validates the appointment of certain District Judges, irregularly appointed. A new Article 233A was added and the appointments made by Governor were validated.

Constitution (21st Amendment) Act, 1967: Provided for the inclusion of Sindhi in the Eighth Schedule to the constitution.

Constitution (22nd Amendment) Act, 1969: Empowered Parliament to carve a new State. (Meghalaya out of Assam)

Constitution (23rd Amendment) Act, 1969: Provided for the extension of the reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Tribes and the nomination of members of the Anglo-Indian community for another 10 years.

Constitution (24th Amendment) Act, 1971: Was passed by Parliament in August 1971. According to it (i) “not withstanding any thing contained in the Constitution, the Parliament may, in the exercise of its constituent power, amend by way of addition, variation or repeal any part of the Constitution” (ii) that the president must give his assent to a Constitution Amendment Bill if it has been passed by both the Houses and (iii) the Article 13 (which provides that the state shall not make any law which takes away or abridges fundamental rights) shall have no application to laws passed under 24th Amendment.

Constitution (25th Amendment) Act, 1971: Was passed by the Parliament in December 1971. It aimed at ensuring that the Fundamental Rights, particularly property rights, do not stand in the implementation of Directive Principles of State Policy as embodies in the Constitution of India. The amendment bars the jurisdiction of Courts over the acquisition of property or on the ground that any such law violates Article 19(1)(f) of fundamental rights. The rights of minority educational institutions guaranteed under Article 33 however, remain protected. The Amendment also inserts in the Constitution a new clause-3/c, to provide that any legislation passed in pursuance of the directive principles Article 39B and C (which concern the ownership and control of material resources and concentration of wealth and means of production) shall not be challenged in a Court on the grounds that it takes away or abridges any of the rights contained in Articles 14, 19 or 31.

Constitution (26th Amendment) Act, 1971: It contains three clauses. The first clauses. The first clause deleted the Articles 291 and 362 of our Constitution which thereto gave protection to the rights of ex-rulers to privy purses and other privileges. The second clause inserts Article 363 (A) which deprives the princes and their successors of presidential recognitions. The rights, obligations and other liabilities of the Government towards them are extinguished. The third clause, amending the Article 366, redefines the term ‘ruler’ as a person who was recognized by the President as the ruler of the Indian State before the commencement of the Constitution.

Constitution (27th Amendment) Act, 1971: Recognized North-Eastern Area Act, 1971 and established new states of Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya and two new Union Territories of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. The Act defined their territories and made necessary provision regarding representation in Parliament and in the Legislative Assemblies of States and other matters.

Constitution (28th Amendment) Act, 1972: Article 314 of the Constitution is deleted by this Amendment and a new Article 312-A has been inserted to give Parliament powers to vary or revoke by law the conditions of services of officers belonging to Indian Civil Service.

Constitution (29th Amendment) Act, 1972: This Amendment included the kerala Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1969 and the Kerala Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1971, in the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution so as to protect these Acts from Judicial review.

Constitution (30th Amendment) Act, 1972: It was introduced in the Lok Sabha on May 24, 1972. It implements the Law commission’s recommendation according to which there should be no valuation test prescribed for declaring a case fit for appeal to the Supreme Court. The Bill seeks to amend Article 133 of the Constitution which laid down that if the value of suit exceeded twenty thousand rupees, there was an almost unrestricted right of appeal to the Supreme Court on any judgment, decree or final order in Civil proceedings of a High Court.

Constitution (31st Amendment) Act, 1973: Increased the upper limit of elective seats in the Lok Sabha from 525 to 545.

Constitution (32nd Amendment) Act, 1973: Implemented the 6-point programme for Andhra Pradesh.

Constitution (33rd Amendment) Act, 1974: Invalidated the acceptance of resignations by members of the State Legislatures and parliament, which were made under duress or coercion, or any other kind of involuntary resignations.

Constitution (34th Amendment) Act, 1974: Provided constitutional protection to 20 Land Reforms Acts passed by the various states, by including them in the 9th Schedule to the Constitution.

Constitution (35th Amendment) Act, 1974: Provided for Associate State status to sikkim.

constitution (36th Amendment) Act, 1975: Made Sikkim a State of the Indian Union-the 22nd State in fact.

Constitution (37th Amendment) Act, 1975: Provided for a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers for the Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh.

Constitution (38th Amendment) Act, 1975: The Amendment seeks to allot Sikkim one seat in the Lok Sabha and one seat in the Rajya Sabha. The amendment will confer on the Governor of Sikkim a special responsibility for peace and an equitable arrangement for ensuring the social and economic advancement of different sections of the population of Sikkim. The provision says that in the discharge of his special responsibility under this clause “The Governor of Sikkim shall be subject to such directions as the President may give”.

Constitution (39th Amendment) Act, 1975: By this Act, disputes relating to the election of president, vice-president, prime minister and speaker are to be determined by such authority as may be determined by Parliamentary Law. Certain Central enactments were also included in the Ninth Schedule by this Act.

Constitution (40th Amendment) Act, 1976: Amended Act 297th and declared that “all land, minerals and other things of value underlying the ocean within the territorial waters or the continental shelf or the exclusive economic zone of India shall vest in the Union and shall be held for the purpose of the Union”.

Constitution (41st Amendment) Act, 1976: Raised the retiring age of State Public Service Commission members from 60 to 62. This does not affect the members of the Union Public Service Commission who retire at the age of 65.

Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976: The Amendment Act inserted a new chapter on the Fundamental Duties of citizens and made special provisions for dealing with anti-national activities. The Judiciary provisions were amended by providing minimum number of judges to decide the constitutional validity of law and for a special majority of not less than two-third majority for declaring any law to be Constitutionally invalid.

For the speedy disposal of the mounting arrears in the High Court this amendment provides a separate administrative and other tribunals to deal such matters and preserve the jurisdiction of Supreme Court in regard to such matters under Article 136. This amendment is called “Mini Constitution of India”.

Constitution (43rd Amendment) Act, 1977: It provides restoration of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and High Courts, earlier curtailed by the enactment of the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976 and accordingly Articles 32A, 131A, 144A, 226A and 228A included in the Constitution by the 42nd Amendment, were deleted by this Act. It also deleted Article 31D which conferred special powers on Parliament to enact certain laws in respect of anti-national activities.

Constitution (44th Amendment) Act, 1978: This Amendment brought a lot of changes in many Articles. The preventive detention for a period of more than two months can be ordered only on the recommendations of an Advisory Board. The right to property was omitted as a fundamental right and made as a legal right. But minorities will have rights to establish or run their educational institutions as before.

Constitution (45th Amendment) Act, 1980: It aims to extend the reservation fro scheduled castes and tribes as well as for the Anglo-Indians for ten more years from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1989.

Constitution (46th Amendment0 Act, 1982: The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on April 3, 1981 and the same was passed by Lok Sabha on July 14, 1982. It seeks to insert an entry in the Union List in the Seventh Schedule to enable Parliament to levy tax on inter-state consignment of goods.

Constitution (47th Amendment) Act, 1984: This amendment provides for the inclusion of certain land reforms acts in the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution with a view of obviating the scope of litigation hampering the implementation process of those acts.

Constitution (48th Amendment) Act, 1984: This was an Amendment to Clause 5 of Article 356 of the Constitution for the continuation of President’s Rule in Punjab for one more year.

Constitution (49th Amendment) Act, 1984: The Government of Tripura recommended that the provisions of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution may be made applicable to the tribal areas of that state. The amendment involved in the Act is intended to give a constitutional security to the autonomous District Councils functioning in the state.

Constitution (50th Amendment) Act, 1984: It brings, apart from the armed forces, other forces connected with the administration of public property, persons in the intelligence departments and telecommunication department connected with this duty into the ambit of Article 33 of the Constitution with a view to maintain discipline among these people and ensure proper discharge of their duties.

Constitution (51st Amendment) Act, 1984: Amendment for Article 330 provides reservation of seats for ST’s in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram in Parliament, and that of Article 332 for local tribal people for Nagaland and Meghalaya Legislative Assemblies.

Constitution (52nd Amendment) Act, 1985: The amendment effected by a Bill popularly called Anti-Defection Bill, was to curb defection by disqualification.

Constitution (53rd Amendment) Act, 1986: Inserted a new Article (371-G) conferring full statehood on Mizoram.

Constitution (54th Amendment) Act, 1986: Amended part-D of the 2nd schedule giving effect to the increase of salaries of the Chief Justice and Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts. And enabling provision for changes in the salaries of judges in future by Parliament by law, was made in Articles 125 and 221.

Constitution (55th Amendment) Act, 1986: Conferred full statehood on Arunachal Pradesh and for this purpose, a new Article 371H has been inserted which, inter alia, confers, having regard to the sensitive location of Arunachal Pradesh to vest special responsibility on Governor. The new Article also provides that the new Legislative Assembly shall consist of not less than thirty members.

Constitution (56th Amendment) Act, 1987: With this Amendment a new state of Goa is created. Parts of Daman & Diu of the erstwhile Union Territory of Goa, Diu and Daman were separated and formed into the new Union Territory.

Constitution (57th Amendment) Act, 1987: As the 51st Amendment could not be implemented properly, 57th Amendment was introduced for special arrangement in the reservation for Scheduled Tribes in the State assemblies of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya, until readjustment of seats on the basis of the first census after 2000 A.D.

Constitution (58th Amendment) Act, 1987: The Constitution has been amended to empower President of India to publish under his authority the translation of the Constitution in Hindi signed by the Members of the Constituent Assembly with such modification as may be necessary to bring it in conformity with the language, style and terminology adopted in the authoritative texts of Central Acts in Hindi language.

Constitution (59th Amendment) Act, 1988: Gives the power to declare emergency for a period upto 3 years in Punjab due to internal disturbance; but extended only for 2 years.

Constitution (60th Amendment) Act,1988: The Act amends Clause (2) of Article 276 of the Constitution so as to increase the ceiling of taxes on professions, trades, callings and employment from two hundred and fifty rupees per annum to two thousand and five hundred rupees per annum. The upward revision of this tax will help the State Government in raising additional resources. The provision to Clause (2) has been omitted.

Constitution (61st Amendment) Act, 1989: It lowers the voting age from 21 to 18 to give wider representation and involve the present day literate youth, in the mainstream of political life of the nation.

Constitution (62nd Amendment) Act, 1989: It seeks to extend the privileges and reservation of seats in Lok Sabha and State assemblies for Scheduled Castes and Tribes for another 10 years from 31st December, 1989.

Constitution (63rd Amendment) Act, 1989: Repealed the 59th Amendment which gave special powers to the government to impose emergency in Punjab.

Constitution (64th Amendment) Act, 1989: President’s Rule in Punjab was extended by another 6 months thus totaling it upto 3 years and 6 months.

Constitution (65th Amendment) Act, 1990: To set up a National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, with powers of a civil court, in the exercise of its duties.

Constitution (66th Amendment) Act, 1990: On 1st June, Parliament gave its approval to the Constitution (66th Amendment) Bill. It seeks to bring all land reforms laws enacted by different states into the Ninth Schedule and thus protecting them from litigation.

Constitution (67th Amendment) Act, 1990: Extension of President’s Rule in Punjab by another 6 months.

Constitution (68th Amendment) Act, 1991: Extension of President’s Rule in Punjab by one more year (Total 5 years).

Constitution (69th Amendment) Act, 1991: Delhi became a Cit State with a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers getting a special status among the Union Territories.

Constitution (70th Amendment) Act, 1992: The elected members of Pondicherry and the National Capital of Delhi were included in the electoral college.

Constitution (71st Amendment) Act, 1992: To include Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali language in the Schedule.

Constitution (72nd Amendment) Act, 1992: Provision was made to determine the number of seats reserved for ST’s in the Assembly of the State of Tripura.

Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992: To add a new part for ensuring direct election to all seats in Panchayat, for the reservation of seats for SC’s and ST’s in proportion to their population and for the reservation of not less than 1/3 of the seats for women.

Constitution (74th Amendment) Act,1992: To ensure effective functioning of the Urban Local Bodies, a new part IX-A relating to the Municipalities, i.e., Nagar Panchayats for areas in transaction from a rural area to Urban area, Municipal Councils for smaller Urban areas and Municipal Corporations for larger urban areas.

Constitution (75th Amendment) Act, 1993: provides for the establishment of State level tribunals to settle landlord-tenant cases and also provides for the reduction of tiers of all courts except Supreme Court relating to rent litigation.

Constitution (76th Amendment) Act, 1994: This amendment places the Tamil Nadu Bill of Reservation within the preview of the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution. The government of Tamil Nadu reserve 18% to Scheduled Castes, 1% to Scheduled Tribes and 50% to Other Backward Castes (total 69%) in education institutions and public employments.

Constitution (77th Amendment) Act, 1995: Makes provision for reservation in matters of promotion in any class or classes of posts in services in State in favour of Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes which in the opinion of the state are not adequately represented in the service in a state.

Constitution (78th Amendment) Act, 1995: Inserts certain state laws in respect of land reforms in the Ninth Schedule.